Australian politicians have spoken out overwhelmingly against the overturning of the right of a woman to have an abortion in the United States.
Protests continued outside the US Supreme Court in Washington where the half-century-old Roe v Wade precedent that recognised women's constitutional right to an abortion was overturned.
Minister for Women Katy Gallagher said Australians must remain vigilant in the face of the Supreme Court's decision, despite being "really fortunate" that abortion rights are not "front and centre" in Australian politics.
"I think that decision over the weekend in America was devastating for many women," Senator Gallagher told ABC Radio National on Monday.
"I think the message to me from that decision in America was the need to remain vigilant because hard-fought-for wins before our Parliament can be taken away easily," she said.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley believed it was a step backwards for the US, adding that these issues should be approached with sensitivity and respect.
"This has been a step backwards for women in the US," she told Sky News' Sunday Agenda program
"I'm very discomforted by anything that puts a personal and sensitive issue that a woman has to grapple with in many instances, or a family has to grapple with, in the same sentence as criminal."
She also agreed with former US president Bill Clinton that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare".
Minister for the Environment Tanya Plibersek tweeted that "women's reproductive choice is a fundamental human right", while Independent Allegra Spender said, "women and girls need access to safe and legal abortions — they need control over their bodies".
"This change in the USA is terrible and around the world, we must guard our hard-fought rights," she added.
Fellow Independent MP Kate Chaney tweeted: "The overturning of Roe v Wade in the US reminds us that: (1) We can’t take progress on women’s rights for granted and (2) politicising judicial appointments has significant consequences. This is bad news for women everywhere."
Government frontbencher Jason Clare said he shared the anger, frustration and grief people are experiencing and talking about in the US and right across the world at the moment.
"Thank god we are a country here in Australia where abortion is not an issue that divides the Labor party and Liberal party," Mr Clare told Sky News.
"I'm thinking at the moment for the women who live in some of these states that are basically being told today that if you want to have an abortion then get on a bus and travel a couple of hundred kilometres."
Liberal senator Matt Canavan was one of a minority of politicians to back the ruling, tweeting "A wonderful day to protect human life".
Meanwhile, advocate Grace Tame said the ruling threatened democracy as well as women's freedoms.
"A part of democracy died today. Women’s sense of freedom too. Worldwide. I’d had maybe 4 periods before I lost my virginity to a 58yo paedophile who raped me, sometimes without protection. For some our womanhood is taken from us before we even have it. And that is not a choice."
UN Women Australia said reproductive rights were sacred.
"Reproductive rights are integral to women’s rights, a fact that is upheld by international agreements & reflected in law in different parts of the world. UN Women Australia remains committed to woman’s rights," it said in a statement.
The US court ruling is expected to see nearly half the states either ban abortion or consider it.
With AAP
